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vets around York

*fluffybunny*

Warren Scout
Hey guys,

I posted lasxt year about finding a vet near York where I was moving too and had started off using battleflats but could no longer afford their dental costs (the last bill for my little lionhead Sophie who's tiny at 1.5kg was £155! They were also doing a general everytime even thou I asked for sedation but they refused insisting that general anesthetic is the best way when I disagree when my bunnies need one every 2-3 months. Their prices didnt even include a bottle of metacam or any pain relief given by them at all as I'd given her some metacam before I took her in (I alady had a bottle). With 3 dental buns I just could not afford it as at my last vets (Pype Hayes vets) in Birmingham, I was paying around £65 per dental. So I spoke to Ann Mitchell who said to try Howells vets in easingwold (just north of York) as they are on rabbit welfare vet list. The vet there their is Christine Howell, so I gave her a ring and we had a really long chat and her prices were less than half of battle flats with the old myxI jab costing just £13! She firstly invited me round to see their facilities and they have recently had a new dental suite. She also did dentals under sedation.
The next week my sooty was showing signs of needing a dental so I took him to see Christine who said she could see some spurs so I left him their for a dental and was very happy with them when I collected him. Sooty seemed more awake as he'd only had a sedation and Christine had took all his spurs off. The cost was only £80 with conltation fee and a bottle of metacam. And as they have seen sooty now, I can just book him in for a dental as I know the signs so this will mean I won't have to keep paying the consultation fee's so next time it will be cheaper.
She said if she's unsure she will always refer on to either Andy Forsyth at battleflats or the lady at harogate (forgot her name lol) So to anyone lookin for a vet around York please give Christine a try. :)
 
Oooh thank you so much for sharing, as my oldest bunny have become a dental bunny with his age. I also live in York.

I did a dental with Tower Vets in Acomb, and I paid just about £100 for the dental. Not sure if they used GA or sedated :oops:
 
Hi there :wave: I think tower vets are now part of battleflats, they seem so big and its all about price. Apparently they are now all part of the specsavers group. There's a much more personal touch at Howells vets and they also do free health checks on bunnies I.e weight.
It's nice to know there's a bunny mad owner close by :) I'm in Stamford bridge
 
Hi there :wave: I think tower vets are now part of battleflats, they seem so big and its all about price. Apparently they are now all part of the specsavers group. There's a much more personal touch at Howells vets and they also do free health checks on bunnies I.e weight.
It's nice to know there's a bunny mad owner close by :) I'm in Stamford bridge

Tower Vets is part of Abbeyfields, not Battleflats :D

In all honesty... I wouldn't touch Battleflats with a barge pole and Andy really isn't the most rabbit savvy vet in York :)

If you're ever stuck again, Abbeyfield's & Tower are fabulous, as is Minster Vets. Abbeyfield's bunny savvy vet has just moved but they do have one other vet who is excellent and they do referrals to Leeds to where their old vet has moved to.

I'm especially glad we're with Abbeyfields/Tower as their emergency vet at times is a vet called Katherine who is phenomonal!

Good luck with your new vets and hope they continue to be great!
 
I use battle flatts in Strensall and we see Andy (for rats and rabbit), I've been happy with the care he's given so far although none of our pets have had anything serious wrong with them since moving here. We used to go to Tower but since their small animal savvy vet moved the care our rats have received has been too variable and I'm much happier taking them to Andy.

Another thing that I prefer about Battle Flatts is the out of hours service - one of our rats had an accident the other night and we spoke to Andy who said it wasn't a dengerous injury and would be fine to wait till morning. We once called the out of hours vet at Tower about some rescue rats who had abcesses all over them. My question was whether it was whether it would be ok to wait until monday morning and was there anything i could do in the meantime like bathing them, but the vet refused to give any advice and told me that if i wanted to leave my rats to die rather than paying the £100 out of hours fee that was my problem :shock: In either case I would happily have taken them in there and then if it was necessary.
 
I use battle flatts in Strensall and we see Andy (for rats and rabbit), I've been happy with the care he's given so far although none of our pets have had anything serious wrong with them since moving here. We used to go to Tower but since their small animal savvy vet moved the care our rats have received has been too variable and I'm much happier taking them to Andy.

Another thing that I prefer about Battle Flatts is the out of hours service - one of our rats had an accident the other night and we spoke to Andy who said it wasn't a dengerous injury and would be fine to wait till morning. We once called the out of hours vet at Tower about some rescue rats who had abcesses all over them. My question was whether it was whether it would be ok to wait until monday morning and was there anything i could do in the meantime like bathing them, but the vet refused to give any advice and told me that if i wanted to leave my rats to die rather than paying the £100 out of hours fee that was my problem :shock: In either case I would happily have taken them in there and then if it was necessary.

I'm with Tower/Abbeyfields, and I've never had a problem with the out of hours service. They've always been happy to give me advice over the phone and they've never insisted I go in. In fact, it's sometimes me insisting!

I took my cat in as an emergency on Wednesday, as I didn't think we could wait two hours until the appointment time, and they were fine about it. It was just an infection, and we probably could have waited, but they understood why I was so worried.

I see Nigel mostly with the rabbits, but I'm happy to see any of the vets there with cats, degus and birds. I don't have rats, but I think RedFraggle on here would recommend Nigel for rat problems.
 
Tower Vets is part of Abbeyfields, not Battleflats :D

In all honesty... I wouldn't touch Battleflats with a barge pole and Andy really isn't the most rabbit savvy vet in York :)

If you're ever stuck again, Abbeyfield's & Tower are fabulous, as is Minster Vets. Abbeyfield's bunny savvy vet has just moved but they do have one other vet who is excellent and they do referrals to Leeds to where their old vet has moved to.

I'm especially glad we're with Abbeyfields/Tower as their emergency vet at times is a vet called Katherine who is phenomonal!

Good luck with your new vets and hope they continue to be great!

Hi :) can you tell which tower vets you use? As there seems to be quite a few and just wondered which one has the bunny savvy vet should I ever consider using them as there's one not far from me and my vet it 40 mins drive
 
I'm with Tower/Abbeyfields, and I've never had a problem with the out of hours service. They've always been happy to give me advice over the phone and they've never insisted I go in. In fact, it's sometimes me insisting!

I took my cat in as an emergency on Wednesday, as I didn't think we could wait two hours until the appointment time, and they were fine about it. It was just an infection, and we probably could have waited, but they understood why I was so worried.

I see Nigel mostly with the rabbits, but I'm happy to see any of the vets there with cats, degus and birds. I don't have rats, but I think RedFraggle on here would recommend Nigel for rat problems.

We've not had a bunny for long so all of our experience with Tower is based on rats. It's been a very mixed experience and they have a lot of vets and it seems there's a different one on duty every time we need to go. It's a shame Jo left, she was great with the rats.

As well as the rude out of hours vet, my partner recently wanted to complain about a vet there making a joke about one of our rats 'dying of fear' because he gets distressed having his teeth clipped. I don't think making jokes about someone's pet dying is acceptable.

We have seen some nice vets though, one was pretty good and the other was kind but clearly didn't have a clue what to do with a rat and seemed very nervous!

Misty has never been to a vet yet apart from her jabs so I can't really comment on what they are like with rabbits.
 
Just wanted to add - I'm only commenting on my experiences, not saying i think people should or shouldn't use certain vets, I think people should go to whoever they find suits them and their animals :thumb:
 
Hi :) can you tell which tower vets you use? As there seems to be quite a few and just wondered which one has the bunny savvy vet should I ever consider using them as there's one not far from me and my vet it 40 mins drive

They all move around between the branches. Nigel is at Abbeyfields on Clarence St on a Wednesday usually, and I think Haxby on Mondays and Tuesdays.

We've not had a bunny for long so all of our experience with Tower is based on rats. It's been a very mixed experience and they have a lot of vets and it seems there's a different one on duty every time we need to go. It's a shame Jo left, she was great with the rats.

As well as the rude out of hours vet, my partner recently wanted to complain about a vet there making a joke about one of our rats 'dying of fear' because he gets distressed having his teeth clipped. I don't think making jokes about someone's pet dying is acceptable.

We have seen some nice vets though, one was pretty good and the other was kind but clearly didn't have a clue what to do with a rat and seemed very nervous!

Misty has never been to a vet yet apart from her jabs so I can't really comment on what they are like with rabbits.

:shock: Do you know which vet it was that made that joke? That's not very nice at all. :( They've had a few newbies start recently, I hope it was one of them.

Jo was the best. It does make it very complicated when the vets all change surgeries and days. Acomb is my closest branch, but I ask where the vets I like are (and that have seen my animals before) and follow them around York :oops: I don't want to offend them, but it's important to have continuity of treatment and a trusting relationship with them.
 
They all move around between the branches. Nigel is at Abbeyfields on Clarence St on a Wednesday usually, and I think Haxby on Mondays and Tuesdays.



:shock: Do you know which vet it was that made that joke? That's not very nice at all. :( They've had a few newbies start recently, I hope it was one of them.

Jo was the best. It does make it very complicated when the vets all change surgeries and days. Acomb is my closest branch, but I ask where the vets I like are (and that have seen my animals before) and follow them around York :oops: I don't want to offend them, but it's important to have continuity of treatment and a trusting relationship with them.

Thanks hun, I live about 10-15 mins from Dunnington branch but lookin on their website they aren't very big and don't even do dentals there?
 
I use battle flatts in Strensall and we see Andy (for rats and rabbit), I've been happy with the care he's given so far although none of our pets have had anything serious wrong with them since moving here. We used to go to Tower but since their small animal savvy vet moved the care our rats have received has been too variable and I'm much happier taking them to Andy.

Another thing that I prefer about Battle Flatts is the out of hours service - one of our rats had an accident the other night and we spoke to Andy who said it wasn't a dengerous injury and would be fine to wait till morning. We once called the out of hours vet at Tower about some rescue rats who had abcesses all over them. My question was whether it was whether it would be ok to wait until monday morning and was there anything i could do in the meantime like bathing them, but the vet refused to give any advice and told me that if i wanted to leave my rats to die rather than paying the £100 out of hours fee that was my problem :shock: In either case I would happily have taken them in there and then if it was necessary.

Is that recent? If so please complain or tell me which vet it was an I'll pass it on. That isn't how Tower operate and they will act on it if you report it.
 
I use battle flatts in Strensall and we see Andy (for rats and rabbit), I've been happy with the care he's given so far although none of our pets have had anything serious wrong with them since moving here. We used to go to Tower but since their small animal savvy vet moved the care our rats have received has been too variable and I'm much happier taking them to Andy.

Another thing that I prefer about Battle Flatts is the out of hours service - one of our rats had an accident the other night and we spoke to Andy who said it wasn't a dengerous injury and would be fine to wait till morning. We once called the out of hours vet at Tower about some rescue rats who had abcesses all over them. My question was whether it was whether it would be ok to wait until monday morning and was there anything i could do in the meantime like bathing them, but the vet refused to give any advice and told me that if i wanted to leave my rats to die rather than paying the £100 out of hours fee that was my problem :shock: In either case I would happily have taken them in there and then if it was necessary.

We had nothing but trouble with Battleflatts.

Andy completely missed my Brambles eye problems which resulted in them getting worse. By the time we managed to get to Abbeyfields/Tower, his eye problems were so bad his tearducts had closed up.

We also happened to cancel 2 appointments (well in advance) and from that point, they were insistent on us paying for appointments in advance. Then, after missing one appointment due to my daughter being ill, they cancelled our account despite having £50 for a consult and vaccinations which I told them I was happy to forfeit (the consult fee) for missing the appointment. Practise manager is incredibly rude and the vet nurse at the Strensall branch doesn't have any customer service skills.

Anyhow, we now use Abbeyfield's/Tower and go wherever our preferred vet is.

When it comes to rats, Nigel is incredible. He was excellent with our rat who developed a head tilt (we no longer have rats anymore though). As for the out of hours service, the usual emergency vet isn't very good with rats and has often told me so when I've rang them. He really doesn't know anything about them but I admire that honesty, that way I don't get given any bad advice.

Everyone has good/bad experiences with different vets but I will never recommend Battleflatts and the practise is well aware of that.
 
Hi :) can you tell which tower vets you use? As there seems to be quite a few and just wondered which one has the bunny savvy vet should I ever consider using them as there's one not far from me and my vet it 40 mins drive

I personally would go for either Abbeyfields/Tower although their vets do jump from branch to branch so we rarely go to the same surgery each time. We swap between Fulford and Clarence a lot. I would trust Nigel to no end with our buns though. For more serious problems, we tend to ask for a referral to Jo who is now in Leeds.

We have used Minster in the past too who are pretty incredible. They are also the vets used by York RSPCA :)
 
Is that recent? If so please complain or tell me which vet it was an I'll pass it on. That isn't how Tower operate and they will act on it if you report it.

No it was about a year ago. And I'm certain that isn't how Tower operate, other vets have all been kind to the rats if not all very knowledgeable, I thought it might have been a locum.

I'm going to stick with Battle Flatts for now, they are my closest vet and have been ok so far. With any vet though, I wouldn't hesitate to take my animal elsewhere for a second opinion if I wasn't satisfied. It's interesting that I noone on this thread seems too impressed with Battle Flatts though. I'm tempted to go back to using Tower and asking for Nigel, I think I've seen him before. And I need a good bunny vet since the vet said that Misty was showing early signs of dental problems when I took her for her jabs and a checkup.
 
Yes the vet nurse at strensell is vile, shes the one I had a bust up on over Sophies £156 dental bill for a tiny lionhead at just 1.4 kilo. I said I refused to pay that and she said they had put their pricing up so it's tough basically. So I said if I font pay don't I get my rabbit back? She said we don't want your rabbit but you still got to pay, she then tried to make me feel bad for not wanting to pay that amount for a rabbit saying you would pay it for a dog! Cheeky cow I love all my four bunnies and would give my life for them! I just don't like being conned. In the end they knocked £20 off and I said I will never use you again!
Changing the subject do any of you know how far abbeyfields is from stamford bridge where I live? I'm from Birmingham and have only been up here a year and am still getting to know my way round.
 
Yes the vet nurse at strensell is vile, shes the one I had a bust up on over Sophies £156 dental bill for a tiny lionhead at just 1.4 kilo. I said I refused to pay that and she said they had put their pricing up so it's tough basically. So I said if I font pay don't I get my rabbit back? She said we don't want your rabbit but you still got to pay, she then tried to make me feel bad for not wanting to pay that amount for a rabbit saying you would pay it for a dog! Cheeky cow I love all my four bunnies and would give my life for them! I just don't like being conned. In the end they knocked £20 off and I said I will never use you again!
Changing the subject do any of you know how far abbeyfields is from stamford bridge where I live? I'm from Birmingham and have only been up here a year and am still getting to know my way round.

Yerp... she's not too pleasant is she? :lol:

From Stamford Bridge you're probably going to be around 15-20mins to Clarence or Fulford. Both are near York city centre. Have a look on google maps for directions :D The route is pretty simple!

And don't worry about finding your way around... I've been here 3 and a half years and I still get stuck! :lol:
 
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